How to Toss That Clutter

Drawers jam-packed? Closets overflowing? File cabinets crammed full?

It’s a common plight of Upper West Siders, whose compact Big Apple abodes often aren’t large enough to handle the sheer amount of junk, er, personal treasures, they’ve accumulated.

If that sounds like you, it might be time for you to make the acquaintance of an organizational whiz. Marilyn Mars’s legendary clutter-clearing classes, which are offered virtually by the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, sell out year-round, a testament to how much Upper West Siders need her expertise.

Each session in the four-week class is two hours long. Caroline Kohles, the JCC’s program director, describes Mars’s class in almost reverent terms: “It’s very calming. It’s very reassuring. People relax with Marilyn, and they actually are willing to look at their surroundings and their life right now.”

Spending quality time talking with Mars, I can attest to that. Mars, a Long Island native, has lived in New Mexico for more than 20 years. But her advice is tailor-made for UWS dwellers who live in tight spaces. She gets it—the plight of the pack rat.

“The most common thing I hear,” she says, is ‘I just don’t know where to begin. I’m overwhelmed.’ There can be shame around how people are in their homes. If they want to have people over, they can’t. Or they want to sit and relax in their room, they can’t. I think when we make changes in our home, things can open in our world, in our life.”

Mars, who said she is a former massage therapist, has a gentle touch. “In my classes, we do very small, manageable chunks. I’ll give a little bit of a project for the week. Class members will do it for the week. In the next class, they share how their week went in the clutter world. And then it helps everybody understand better what overwhelms them and what parts of their homes feel more emotional.”

Mars’s approach is in large part psychological. “It’s not just a mess,” she explains. “There are many types of clutter. There are the things you don’t love, the sentimental items that you hang on to, you wish you could let go, but you’re so tied to them because they have memories of the past. They’re unfinished. Different types of clutter weigh on us. And if there are too many of them, it drags energy down.”

Mars, 60, says that she was a neatnik from the get-go. “I don’t want to live in a museum, but I’ve always been very organized, very structured. That comes naturally for me.”

Mars has now been helping the disorganized for 15 years. In that time, she says, she’s seen pathological hoarding behavior perhaps five times. “The extreme is when you can’t walk through the place. I’ve seen people on their way to that. But once people get to that point, there’s so much to do that they’re usually not willing to do it.” What comes up more often is people’s distress about cleaning out another person’s home, sometimes when a parent has passed away. “That’s a big one for people.”

In addition to her virtual classes, Mars does one-on-one Zoom sessions. That way, she has gotten a chance to meet and neaten many Upper West Siders. She is enthusiastic about the breed: “People on the UWS are fun and very direct. I just love their openness; it’s like there’s a beat to the people in New York.”

Psyched about spring cleaning and starting to conquer the clutter? Mars’s advice? “Start small with manageable chunks. Maybe start with a kitchen drawer or bathroom drawer.” There’s even hope for Type-A New Yorkers who are messy. “A lot of times people feel like, ‘I’m too busy, I can’t make the time for it.’ Well, do 15-minute or 20-minute time blocks three times a week. Put it in your calendar. Show up for yourself. “

After all, as Mars often says, “Clutter-clearing is a form of self-care.”

The once-a-week introductory course entitled: Clutter clearing 101 meets for four Thursdays in April via zoom; Clutter Clearing: Paper meets weekly from mid-May through mid-June.